Beavers's defense team angered by jury pool

Cook County Commissioner William Beavers arrives at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse today for jury selection in his tax-evasion charges. (Michael Tercha, Chicago Tribune)

Federal jury selection for African-American elected official William Beavers hit a surprising and unusual snag Tuesday as soon as the panel of 50 prospective jurors walked into U.S. District Judge James Zagel's courtroom.

There was not one African-American male in the randomly-selected group, prompting strong commentary from Beavers’ defense team and a request that the pool be dismissed.

“We were astonished,” Beavers attorney Victor Henderson said to Zagel after the jury was excused from the courtroom. “There is not one black male and just one or two black females.”

After hearing from Henderson, Zagel acknowledged it was rare to have a panel without a black male, but he also said there are potential legal problems with dismissing a properly-selected random panel.

Zagel declined the defense request and instead instructed both prosecutors and defense attorneys to confer with the U.S. Clerk’s office for the Northern District of Illinois to ensure the selection process used to put together the larger panel was done according to established protocols.

In the meantime, he continued to question jurors from the panel of 50 in order to select 12 who will sit for trial. At the end of Tuesday, he had questioned 24, and selection was scheduled to continue Wednesday.

Outside court, Beavers’ attorneys called the process “rigged” and said they had no confidence that checking with the clerk’s office would make a difference.

“I’ve been trying cases down here 52 years. I have never seen a case where I represented a black (male) defendant and they sent out 50 jurors, 50! 50 jurors! And not one single black man,” said a highly agitated Sam Adam Sr. “Now don’t tell me that was an accident.”

Beavers, 78, a Cook County commissioner since 2006 and Chicago alderman before that, faces charges he failed to pay taxes on tens of thousands of dollars that he converted from his campaign funds for personal expenses. Though typically outspoken, Beavers left the commentary Tuesday to his attorney.

When asked about Zagel’s instructions to confer with the clerk’s office, Adam scoffed and said attorneys are planning to move ahead with the panel they have.

“What are they gonna say? We did it on purpose? … This was all rigged some place,” he said. “Some place in this so-called federal system, this was all rigged.”

Randall Samborn, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Chicago, had no comment.

According to a written jury plan, which was recently updated, it is required that each county be proportionately represented in this master list of prospective juror names.The next time the list is replenished, which occurs every two years, it will include state driver’s records.